The Interior Ministry has rejected claims made by opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian union (SDKÚ) MPs Milan Hort and Martin Fedor that minister Robert Kaliňák (a Smer party nominee) requested the presence of members of police trade unions at a rally due to be held during a parliamentary no-confidence vote on him on Friday, January 29, the TASR newswire was told on January 28.
To support his claim, Hort had read from a letter drawn up by police trade unions which he said had been placed on all notice-boards at district departments of the Slovak Police Corps.
Hort also said that a number of police officers received an e-mail informing them that that a rally will be organised in support of Kaliňák. According to him, the rally's organisers are drawing up lists of those who have agreed to attend and those who have refused.
Ministry spokesman Erik Tomáš told TASR that these claims are false. “It's obvious that the event is not being organised by the Interior Ministry, but by police trade unions, which don't fall under the Interior Ministry. The trade unions are a voluntary organisation,” he said.
Tomáš rejected allegations that the ministry is misusing or interfering in the work of the Police Corps. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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